Chapter Text
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The walk back to Konoha was gruesomely slow, but necessary in its own way. It will do no good for them to be quick when the Third Hokage had not summoned them or when danger around them had been thoroughly cleansed.
He made sure of it along with their sensei. What's left of his meager chakra was used in order to summon his ninken to check, having only been able to summon four out of eight in order not to pass out. In order to not be a heavy baggage to be carried back to the village. That's all he could have done to help, however, the rest of the time he was lost.
The confusion, the stress, the frustration and the slow down time of the entire situation being processed would have left him unconscious were it not for his sheer will and determination to consciously put one foot in front of the other. Later, he tell himself. When they're within village walls and he's put in his report for the disastrous mission, he can pass out as much as he'd like after wishing not to wake up any longer.
Minato glances at him briefly, and he continues to walk, ignoring everything. Even the boy on their sensei's back.
Tonight, three students are dead. Yet one was revived, one never stopped breathing and the last one is cold in his arms.
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Being put in Anbu wasn't a surprise. His skillset was perfect for it. He is experienced, a prodigy, a genius, and a strategist on top of it all. What surprised him most is how it took him this long to be part of that organization.
If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought it was because Minato didn't want him in it. But that thought diminishes when he remembers it was the same man that registered him as Anbu Captain before Kakashi was even asked. He didn't mind it. It was reasonable, practical. He was good at killing people, at assassinations, at ordering others to kill people. He was good, great even.
It didn't stop the hurt that came, however much a tool shouldn't feel. It didn't stop how much he ached for feeling neglected and casted aside for the wrongs both he and his father had done. How a part of his mind and soul still longed to be held after everything and not be told to retreat to the shadows.
He deserved it at the end of the day, all this punishment should've came the second he first lost a member of his team as a newly appointed Jounin.
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It is three weeks and two days after the day Rin died did he find out through Gai's loud, boisterous voice that Obito woke up from his coma.
He's hidden, somewhere behind the trees, having not replenished the proper energy and chakra to return to the Anbu base and report as Gai and a few others talk amongst themselves in ecstacy. That a friend of theirs lived yet again, that they're ready to visit him once the hospital allows it. Knowing the doctor in charge of Obito's case, however, it wouldn't be possible for some time.
He feels relieved, happy. He bleeds out into the wood beneath him where he's sat but he's content. He wouldn't be wanted there, he wouldn't even be mentioned, he knows it. There was no point in joining the reunion, only that he at least is aware there is one.
"Team Seven really had it rough, huh?" Kurenai's voice is soft, saddened. Kakashi tightens the bandage around his thigh. "Obito is alive, but at the cost of another one's life."
Ah, right. This is the part where they call Kakashi the new nickname the village made for him, isn't? Friend killer. Friend killer. Fitting, honestly.
But for it to come out of the same people he went to the Academy with? Who he's somehow made an acquaintance with? It hurt more than the stab wound on his leg. So, with great difficulty and resolution, he uses what's left inside him and shunshins away.
He doesn't hear what Gai says because of it, with a somber and quiet tone. Unusual for a boy like him.
"I wish Kakashi allows himself reprieve from the guilt swallowing him."
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In spite of himself and what he's been telling his head for the past week, the second his schedule was free and no mission took him to a different location for days to no end – Kakashi visits the hospital.
Or, well, hover. He doesn't go in. He doesn't allow himself that kind of happiness. He sits by the closest tree, allows himself to be sensed by the other Anbu guarding it and the ones specified for the Hokage while said Hokage is here, and watches.
Just a glimpse. That's all he's going to be selfish for.
People go in and out. Mostly old people Obito has helped throughout the years, and children who's kittens were rescued. Then there's those from the Academy as well. They round the bed, making it harder for him to properly see. There's laughter everywhere, gifts, flowers, sweets. Everything Obito liked.
He tilts his head here and then and ignores Itachi's gaze on the back of his head. Any other time and he'd berate his junior for not looking at the Hokage instead, but this isn't that time. There's a gap between Asuma and another kid, and he zeroes in on that.
He doesn't expect meeting Obito's gaze head on.
Kakashi's entire being tenses, his blood cold and his hands frozen. Then just as quick as it was, Obito turns to another person. So, as he slowly relaxes, he simply thinks it was a coincidence and continues to watch more intently. Obito looks blank, even with the usual smile on his face. It's not genuine. Not as bright or wide. It's plastered on his face like he was on a stage.
Something in Kakashi breaks. But the time he's given himself is up and the Hokage did not ask for him here. Not as a guard, and not as a former student.
He leaves then. Refusing to acknowledge Itachi's quiet, confused call for him.
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Life goes on.
He doesn't visit the hospital or go near it anymore, not that he really did before. He avoids that place like a plague further more now.
Throwing himself in more missions was as easy as breathing. He wasn't wanted in a place where he's not allowed to kill and hurt. He feels more welcomed in a battlefield, in a bloodbath. It's better that way, for both him and the people he cares for in the village.
If he purposely slows down when he sees an incoming kunai, allows himself to be thrown around like a ragdoll, doesn't avoid an incoming jutsu – well, the dead don't speak.
He is a Shinobi easily discarded in the grand scheme of things like these men.
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It was an accident, really. He hadn't meant to stumble on to the wrong road back to his small apartment. He's suffering from a week's worth of blood loss and untreated wounds, there wasn't much choice when he couldn't even control his own body and he's not giving himself a break.
Seeing Obito out and about was an accident he's glad that happened.
How long has it been since that day he woke up? Three months? Four? Half a year? An entire year? Two?
He doesn't know, he's lost track of time when it wasn't necessary to be aware of it in his line of work. It's been long, though. Long enough for Obito to master the new parts of his body, for his usual smile to return and the emptiness slowly being lifted off that visible eye. It's still there, it seems. Some of it, at least. It's one Kakashi has an intimate knowledge with.
What wasn't a pleasant surprise was the part of being seen. Not to mention seen in one of his most vulnerable states. He doesn't usually worry any other people would see him at barely the crack of dawn. People are still asleep, or still in their home. The only people out at this time are the patrollers he can easily avoid or people who thinks waking up at three in the morning is considered the complete opposite of insanity.
"Kakashi?"
He winces, visibly. Right, not ready. Obito's voice is rough, deep, and has some raspiness in it. And his brows are furrowed, eye narrowed in scrutiny and Kakashi is on the verge of fainting.
There wasn't much decision to be made here. A shunshin is out of the question if he doesn't want to die from chakra exhaustion. A limping man can run faster than him at this point and he doesn't have enough energy to simply jump up to the roof.
Kakashi takes a deep breath then, quietly. More to himself.
"Obito," he greets and proceeds to return from where he came from and pray to whoever that Obito doesn't follow.
He shouldn't have lingered that long. Trash like him shouldn't have been that close to what a proper Shinobi like Obito is. But the nostalgia, the utmost relief and joy upon seeing him well and more alive than he was – Kakashi treasures that memory, however short-lived it may have been. He's quick to crush down whatever hope he's starting to feel that Obito does somehow chase after him. That in all his undeserving state, Obito follows him.
Obito doesn't.
Kakashi doesn't know if that's what hurt more or not.
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Kushina hadn't stopped visiting him for at least once every fortnight. She doesn't stop even when he's unresponsive, breathing heavily as he sweats out either a cold or another open wound. Unsurprisingly, she also knows when he's about to leave for a mission and when he's back. Being the wife to the Hokage have some perks, though disadvantages for him. She keeps knocking, yelling, leaving lunch boxes by his doorsteps or by his windowsills with notes of threats that if he doesn't come by for dinner, she would kill him herself.
He never did. The first time it was because he hoped the threat was real. The times after that was because it was meaningless if he's just going to ruin everything as he usually does. The atmosphere would be tense and awkward, the conversations off, the people avoiding certain topics and knowing Kushina; she would have invited Obito too.
Not to mention his relationship with Minato is mostly Anbu to Hokage now. Whatever sentimentality they've had before everything has ceased to exist.
The constant banging on his door is welcome, even if his neighbors declare it is not. It's constant. It's loud and it's alive and even if she doesn't know, Kushina might have saved his life so many times without ever being aware of it.
The blood drips. Slow and careful.
"Kakashi! Come on! I know you're in there!"
His skin is pale. Too pale and too transparent. One shouldn't see that many veins beneath his flesh. He drops the kunai with a small breath, blinking up the fog of yet another successful assassination.
"Kakashi!"
It is a wonder, he thinks as his vision blurs, how his door hadn't cracked with the force Kushina uses with her punches.
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Kakashi is useless outside of killing intent.
He's known that for a while now. He's not good at everyday life. Having lost his touch in cooking after abandoning it in favor of more missions to tend to, he depends on whatever Kushina deems him worthy to give and instant ramen. If not that, he survives on those protein bars they've been handing out in the barracks lately. It tastes like shit, exactly what he needs.
His ninken tries, as much as they can with those paws, to help clean his apartment. It's accumulated dust thick enough to think no one lives in his place. The only lived in part is his bed and bathroom. The dogs dust what they can whenever Kakashi summons them on slow days, they open windows, they sneeze everywhere, they force him to sit up from his bed. If not that, they force him to at least rot on the old but thick carpet in the living room instead.
They try. They really do. Kakashi is just simply nothing without the strings of orders holding him up. It's what he's good for. It's what he's meant to do. What use is he if not to be sent out to potentially die?
"Pup." There's a wet nose poking his closed eye. "Pup, get up. Get some sunlight. This isn't good for you."
All the better then, he muses. If he's not doing anything good, he doesn't deserve good. He curls in further into himself, knees tucked to his chest as he lays in his misery.
He's tired, for one thing. Hunger doesn't come as much anymore, it becomes just a dull ache in his stomach. Exhaustion is often for one that isn't offered sleep. The rare times he does sleep, nightmares come and he's awake again the next second. It's pointless. He's tired and frustrated that there wasn't any mission given to him today when he knows most of his team had been designated somewhere and he's stuck here ruminating on his thoughts.
It's stupid and he can't even cry about it because that just means he's gone so weak in his life. He's not going to, not in front of the dogs or they'd worry and start summoning themselves here without his knowledge.
Shiba's snout is resting directly on his temple, fur right in his face and thinks it won't matter. Nothing really does anymore. It has been like that for some time now. Life goes on, and it turns duller by the day.
It's tiring having to live like this – it's all he knows, though. Colours didn't disappear the day Obito died, it disappeared the second he saw his own father in their home. Bled himself to death. Then it just never came back.
Seppuku is an act of sacrifice, an act of cleansing for many. It's something Kakashi has considered many times but never actually went through with. He doesn't deserve to go the easy way. If he were to die, the least he could do was to die by another's hand. Killing himself would not be repenting, but a cowardly way not to face the consequences of his actions.
"Come on." Pakkun is heavy as he sits on Kakashi's thigh. "You're skin and bones, pup. At least eat something."
Kakashi tunes that out. That means having to move and he doesn't feel like moving.
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The Third Shinobi War ends rather anticlimactic. Kages from all villages having gathered for a fruitful meeting and a much needed end to the deaths and explosions. It took too long, in his opinion, but it ended nonetheless.
Hostility doesn't disappear in a mere night, nor does anger and grief for all the lives lost and tampered. The paper of alliance is a start, though, however thin and marinated in blood it was. It's something, and definitely better than continuing the tragedies.
Konoha holds a memorial for all the Shinobi sacrificed for the good of the village.
Hidden in the trees with the rest of Anbu on guard duty, Kakashi pretends the rock with no name on the very edge of the cemetery does not exist.
It doesn't stop him from leaving at least one flower before the day ends though. Sakumo has earned his respect in many ways in spite of his end, and he's come to understand his father for choosing to kill himself the older he gets.
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Kakashi realizes belatedly he didn't see Obito with the rest of the people.
He wouldn't blame the man if he chose not to come. Really, the only reason he was even there was because he was ordered to.
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"I have a new member for your team."
Kakashi remains quiet, head lowered. He's expected this when Bear never came back from a mission a month ago.
It was unfortunate. He's quite liked Bear. He was competent and stubborn, the tank in their team for somehow always getting most of the hits so the rest can deal with the back lines during their expeditions.
The Hokage gestures something, and another person lands beside him. Kakashi does not turn to look.
There's an odd tone he notes and files for later in Minato's tone. "His name is Wolf."
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"Rules are simple." He lists them, one by one. It's the rules he made for the team itself, not for being Anbu. One learns that once they're part of it. Having to repeat it now meant he's undermining the new member, or the new member is not meant to become a member at all.
Top priority rule: save one's own life. It's to each their own. If the rest are dead or are too wounded, whoever can go back home should go home and ask for back up if necessary, or simply a group for cleanup. It's a painful world out there and Kakashi needs his Anbu team to understand it and understand it well. Second priority is the mission. If most members of the team have been compromised, whoever is available sees to it the mission is successful and then they deal with any injuries of the team. If they cannot, make a tactical retreat.
Third rule goes without saying: one shan't sacrifice or risk their life unnecessarily so. It does not matter if it's to save another member's life. A Shinobi's body is their own weapon and to harm it blatantly is a disregard to the importance of the mission and henceforth, a hindrance.
Kakashi says these as clear as he can be. Having said the same words to his members. Wolf and Fox are the only new ones they've had this year.
Wolf seems to hold the rules with indifference. "Doesn't sound like a team to me." His tone is clipped, short. "Too... individualistic."
Ignoring how that voice sounds oddly familiar, Kakashi folds his arms. "Before I introduce you to the others, we need to spar." He ignores the scoff he earned and nudges his head toward the training grounds. "The Hokage gave you to me himself, so it is not meant to see if you deserve to be in the team. It's moreso to identify where you exactly stand."
He proceeds toward the open area. "Your physique tells me you're used to getting hard hits." Bear had been big, but Wolf is slightly bigger. He's taller too, Kakashi stands full height only reaching the man's chin. "I want to see what you can do and what abilities you have."
Wolf stands unresponsive for a second. Kakashi takes his time on getting his kunai from his pouch. It was a small momentarily aversion of his eye. He still kept Wolf in his peripheral and he was quick to look back. But that small time was enough, apparently, for Wolf to move.
He was gone. In a way a shunshin or a hiraishin cannot do. Those leave trace, they leave lingering chakra. This one doesn't. Kakashi tightens his grip on his kunai, jaw tight as he tries to sense around himself. It was foolish to ask for a spar when he's not properly healed from his previous wounds, but he's never truly allowed his body to be cleared before sending himself off to a mission. This one is light. This one should be easy.
Except, as he feels his body swiftly thrown so hard to the nearest tree he hears a crack, he thinks it wouldn't be as easy as he'd initially thought. He grunts, but is quick to recover and he's back on his feet. He hadn't felt any chakra anomalies before he was attacked, and there's no sign of Wolf anywhere for him to prepare for another. Whatever jutsu this is, it's no wonder Wolf is in Anbu. It's a perfect jutsu for silent and quick deaths, right up the organization's alley.
What surprises him, however, was that he wasn't part of Root before the Fourth Hokage tore it down from the inside out. He read Wolf's file after all. It will do him no good to have absolutely no knowledge to who this new member is aside from appearance and name.
"I find it–" He whips his head up, seeing Wolf crouched almost lazily on a tree branch. "Hard to believe you're this easy to toy with."
"Is it really?" Kakashi steps back slowly. Keeping his eye on the man, he twists the kunai in his grip. "I'm a known Shinobi. Many have tested my own abilities and spread them to whoever listens. You are here with a base knowledge of what I can do while I'm still figuring you out."
"True." Wolf nods. "But this would be the case most of the time with your enemies. Do you spend half your time studying them?"
"I learn as I go on." Kakashi doesn't like that he's figured out Wolf is purposely hiding his true voice first rather than what jutsu he's using. "I don't talk to my enemies this casually when I fight them either." He throws three shuriken to test the waters. Much to his initial theory, the shurikens simply phases through Wolf and lands behind him.
He's intangible, undetectable and can teleport.
Wolf regards him silently for a few moments. He's been doing that an awful lot of times since they've been dismissed by the Hokage. Kakashi really does not like that one. It doesn't help that he feels bare in front of that gaze.
When he stands, Kakashi braces himself for the worse.
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It's no surprise the spar ends with his back to the ground and a kunai on his neck.
Doesn't mean he's not understood Wolf more than he did earlier. The man's uncanny ability to teleport and become undetectable remains a mystery, but he knows now Wolf can use all nature jutsu, is great in Taijutsu and is efficient in kenjutsu. His arsenal is vast and wide, and he needs no hand signs to summon any of his wanted weapon. He's quiet when he fights, leaves no trace of himself and hides perfectly Kakashi cannot track him.
Wolf is strong.
And if Kakashi doesn't know what it would mean for himself, he would have admitted Wolf might just be stronger than him.
There's a knee pressed against his stomach, right where an open wound was freshly bandaged this morning. He pats Wolf's arm. "Off," he grunts. "You won already. Get off me."
Wolf doesn't move. He doesn't seem eager to move away as he looks down on him. Kakashi hates how naked his face feels in spite of wearing two masks.
Then that knee presses harsher on his wound and he fails to swallow the small hiss that escapes his mouth.
"You're injured."
Kakashi's breath is slowly going uneven. "Get off me."
Wolf finally does as he's told. With great difficulty, Kakashi was able to hide all visible reactions he may have had for stretching that bleeding wound. It's been like that for a day now and all he's hoped was it to never be infected. So, he's tried his best to be hygienic about it while he still can.
It's going to take an awful lot more of time for it to heal if it was, and he's not too keen on being at an early disadvantage just because he was stupid.
"You should get that checked out."
"Mind your own business," Kakashi snaps, harsher than he intended to be. He began thinking of what route to take to return home as he dusts himself. It'd be easier on his battered body if he simply walks, but faster if he jumps from roof to roof and he's eager to get out of this place.
"You're meeting the rest of the team by the first mission. Don't be late."
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Kakashi hates Wolf.
He is stable, secure and confident in ways Kakashi cannot be. Wolf is strong and has a good mind, often defiant in the face of doubtful orders and rules (and has made certain of how he thinks of Kakashi's in the process). He knows well who he is and what he can do, and he uses this to his greatest advantage.
In the month that led after their initial introduction and missions sent to his Anbu team have come and go, he's learned early on his team not just enjoys his presence, but heeds the words he says. Last word is still on Kakashi, but it was hard to miss how everything Wolf decides, his team leans toward it. He's a good decision maker, thinks well under pressure and doesn't leave any team member behind in spite of the rules both Anbu and Kakashi has given him.
He's a better man in more ways than one.
Kakashi hates him, simply for how he knows where this usually leads to.
Wolf is here to replace him.
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Being replaced wasn't something Kakashi often worries about as someone of his standing. It doesn't matter if people spat or still does on his name, it doesn't matter if they whisper behind his back or wish him dead on the spot – it comes with being a rule-based Shinobi and he's used to it.
What matters was that he remains as skilled and strong. That he can refine those the older he gets, polish it in many ways to counter any attacks he may experience in the field. Relying on others meant having a weakness, whether on his senses or his abilities. To rely on someone meant he's willing to let those weakness slide. He's not willing to risk that part. Just because the war has ended, doesn't mean he can just go soft.
Any Shinobi worth their salt knows that means they're ready to retire, and Kakashi's too young to even consider what life is outside of being one.
Civilian Hatake Kakashi? What a joke. He'd sooner get himself killed before that happens.
So, it worries him. Reasonably so, that if Minato really had sent him Wolf to become his replacement, what would become of him? A discarded piece of trash. So utterly useless not even his former sensei deemed him worthy enough to be in the frontlines. It was an ugly feeling inside him. Fear, for one. The others are scrambled pieces of what he's felt throughout the years.
It scares him.
"You're distracted." There's a hand tugging him back by the arm, and Kakashi inhales sharply as that pulls on his dislocated shoulder. Wolf leans close, eyeing what enemy nin is left in front of them. "Keep that up and your head would be theirs."
He didn't need the reminder. Refocusing, he continues to sense for any threat left around them as Wolf finishes the rest. This was a set ambush, made so the team was split up. He'd been behind as they return to Konoha, as he usually is in order to make sure his team is safe and complete – or would be the excuse if they see him occasionally slows down so his injuries wouldn't tear themselves open. It had been difficult to maneuver that sort of reasoning whenever Wolf keeps up pace by his side instead of in front.
He crouches down, already making hand seals to summon some of his dogs to track where the others may be. They'd been in the forest before disaster struck, and the two of them have been fighting the attackers for so long they found themselves standing by the edge of the cliff at the end of it. They'd have to regroup and camp for the night to rest their bodies and check for any injuries. It would be best if they resume their way back home by dawn.
Kakashi pauses.
There's someone behind him. He felt it. A presence that bodes nothing good. An intent to kill. The sound of labored breath indicates the man either exhausted himself or is gravely injured, either one meant Kakashi can avoid whatever is about to touch him with the ease of a chunin. He could, he should have–
But he didn't and he stood there, frozen as though he couldn't have had easily dismantled the kunai off the enemy-nin's hand and killed the man with his bare hands. There's blood gushing out of the wound when the man pulls it out with a huff of laugh, before it's cut off by a disgusting sound of gurgling as Wolf finishes him off.
There's a standstill. A silent tension in the air between them that Kakashi knew Wolf witnessed the first half of the mishap and he's about to get an earful once everything is over. He cups the wound, swaying on his feet and Wolf stands by his side with a murderous intent emitting off his person. Kakashi doesn't know if it's for him, or it's what's left that was meant for others but he's not giving it much thought as he collapses. He coughs, heavy and raspy and Wolf is heaving him up gently with hands on his waist. The hold doesn't let go until he's steady on his feet again.
There's no words exchanged between them when they begin the arduous treck toward where their team may be, Kakashi slower than usual as he keeps a hand pressed against the stab wound. Wolf is a sensor, a good one, yet another thing he's better at than Kakashi. He must have sensed where the rest of the team are, and Kakashi uses this time to rummage through his pouch for a bandage.
A clearing up ahead is where he starts smelling Tenzo first, then Cat and Fox, then Mouse, and there's relief seeping in his bones when he realizes they're complete. He takes many deep breaths, leaning against each tree close enough as he passes them. Wolf remains steady in front, not too far, but not too close. Kakashi doesn't know if that irritates him or not.
Rat's voice echoes first. "Captain?"
Wolf doesn't allow Kakashi to get a word in. Quick as the ambush earlier, he speaks up. "For tonight and for tomorrow until the report has been sent to the Hokage, the Captain's second in command assumes authority."
"And who told you–" Kakashi hisses, pushing off Tenzo's approaching hands off of him as he glares at Wolf. "That you can just order that around? That's considered insubordination if you don't have a proper reason."
"Okay." When Wolf turns around to face him, Kakashi knew he fucked up. "Then explain what happened back there."
Kakashi thinks he pushed himself into a corner here. "I don't know what you're talking about," he deflects quickly.
Wolf isn't inclined to agree. "Kakashi."
"The protocol. You know yourself not to use real names–"
"What the hell just happened back there?" Wolf gestures toward him angrily. "You let yourself get stabbed!"
"I was caught by surprise," he grits out, putting most his weight on the tree beside him. "It happens. From time to time. This was a three weeks mission and most of us didn't get proper sleep or rest. This one slipped, is all. What? Did you think I can just run around as fast as I can be when I haven't gotten sleep?"
"Sleep," Wolf huffs out a laugh, cold and brittle. "A Shinobi of your caliber could have avoided that one even half dead, you know this. The man was clumsier than a genin at best."
Kakashi is too tired for this. "Get a grip. I don't know what stupid idea you have of me that you seem to forget I can get hurt too, but don't push it, Wolf." He grabs the aid kit Tenzo is holding and turns around. The longer he stays arguing here, the higher the chance he might just admit what actually happened. "As Wolf said, Cat leads the team until the mission is done!"
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"You have to let me help."
Kakashi could only grunt, wincing as he tightens the bandage around himself. There's sweat trickling down the side of his face as he remembers, unfortunately, that the old one hadn't healed all that good either.
Neither did the one on the side of his thigh. That one's nasty, as the blade had the chance to even glide down a little close to his knee. It took three days before he got used to the pain, and another two before he can walk without giving himself away to an experienced eye.
"Tend to the others," he replies instead. He starts slowly tying the bandages. "Or go eat. I'll take first watch."
Tenzo shakes his head. "If you forgot, you're not Captain for tonight. Cat said I should help you and Wolf already volunteered to be first watch. I don't think either of them are letting you take any watch."
Of course, Wolf volunteered. If causing a fight in front of the entire team wasn't enough, he just had to rub in the fact Kakashi's basically considered invalid. The blood already bled through the layers of gauze and everything, but he still pulls down his shirt. "I'm done. See? Nothing to help here. Go down and eat."
Tenzo sighs. He doesn't do anything Kakashi said. He sits down on the same tree branch, folding his legs as he assesses Kakashi. "Is it true?"
He tenses. "What is?"
"How you got stabbed?"
"Tenzo," Kakashi drawls. "Don't start."
"I'm worried, Captain." Tenzo sighs again, deep and tired. "We all are."
Kakashi thinks it's undeserving to be the receiving end of that worry. It's irrational and frankly stupid to be concerned about some lousy trash. Especially now when Kakashi became just a baggage for them.
He releases a breath, and uses his good leg to push Tenzo off the tree. "Go eat," he says simply when the man looks up in betrayal. Defeated, Tenzo finally turns back toward the fire. He watches them lazily, seeing Mouse pass a bowl toward the newcomer as they converse amongst themselves.
It's a good sight. Kakashi often opens his sharingan just to see these kind of views. It's a reminder, he supposes, that though he fucked up every team he had since he was a Jounin, he had not fucked this one up. At least not yet. They were capable, and guided well. Kakashi had lucked out with this one.
He can't open his sharingan this time though, a pity. His chakra reserves are hanging on by a thin thread. There's no need to make him more useless than he already is.
"You're suicidal."
Kakashi looks in front. Opposite of his tree, Wolf sits on his own. "It's why you're... like this."
That's offensive. "Like what?" Kakashi squints.
"You look like a living corpse." Wolf folds his arms over his chest. "You're so thin, and slow when you move, something easy to miss because of how quick and agile you are during fights. And you literally allowed yourself to get stabbed."
"I told you–"
"If you tell me it's not like that, you're telling me a sharingan can somehow change memories of their owners without said owners knowing."
Kakashi clamps his mouth shut, but he refuses to look away and back down.
Wolf isn't keen on shutting up it seems. "You know the consequences if this is included in the reports, right?"
"As would any other inflicted wounds on Anbu are, they're to stay low for a while to get ample rest."
"Not if it's self-inflicted."
"It's not," Kakashi almost yells out. "How many times do I have to tell you it's not? It was a slip up."
"The gash on your leg? Was that a slip up too?" Wolf prods, voice mocking. "The nick on your arm? The one on your thigh? I remember faintly it was the first day of the mission, so surely you've had enough sleep then? You can't pull off that excuse this time. Or how about–"
"Cut it out," Kakashi growls. "I am not having this conversation. I've told you many times to mind your damn business. The fact that I don't know your real identity speaks volumes of how I respect yours. The least you can do is respect mine."
It's been something he hadn't minded. If a new team member doesn't show him their face or tell their real name, he wouldn't ask. He did not care so long as they do their job and live the next day, then identity matters little to him.
Wolf somehow was the only one that did not.
"Fine." Wolf stands up, huffing. "Have it your way. I'm telling the Hokage what I saw, and if he doubts it, I'm simply going to show him what my sharingan saw."
Kakashi rolls his eye. It's truly a wonder how he ended up with half his members being part of the notorious clan of Uchiha. They are stubborn to a fault, difficult to change what they believe in and they're always so easy to anger. Truly, the only one that didn't have the usual temperament was Cat. That's why he quite liked Cat, having appointed him as a second in command. "It's not like he's going to do anything about it."
Wolf catches this, and he pauses mid-jump. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Do you think the Hokage have time to care for each and every Anbu individual?" Kakashi scoffs. "I've been under his reign for longer than you have, I know the worst he's going to do is put me in a hospital."
There's something odd in the way Wolf quietens. As though Kakashi said something terribly inaccurate. "He's been improving the Anbu protocols for health and safety measures. Not to mention you're literally his first student."
"Being a former student does not give me special care." He's known that. It's still painful. It still felt like he was abandoned twice by a parental figure. He thought he's used to it whenever he remembers the way fourteen years old Kakashi hoped for a little comfort only to be thrown directly to a position that hides even his own self. "It means nothing in the face of necessities."
Wolf stands silently there motionless, as though he's been caught in a trap. It's one of those times again where he just stares at Kakashi as though staring would give them the answers they both need for the questions they never ask each other. It's awkward and strange, and most of the time, Kakashi doesn't know what to do aside from just staying put until whatever thoughts Wolf was ruminating on is done.
"Kushina was right."
That catches Kakashi off guard. "What?" Wolf knows her? Enough so they're on a first name basis?
Wolf shakes his head, already preparing himself to jump back down from the tree. "Nevermind."
Kakashi furrows his brows, gaze lingering on that retreating back as he circles back to their conversation before it ended with Kushina's name of all people.